The present invention is directed to an installation for manual assembling of components on a printed circuit board to form a PC or printed circuit module. The installation includes a holding means for the non-mistakable positioning of a printed circuit board on which the components are to be assembled, display means or device for the optical identification of the respective assembly positions of each component on the printed circuit board held in the holding means, at least one magazine for the purpose of making available a component required for each assembly and an arithmetic unit or means for controlling the display device and the removal positions of the components in the magazine corresponding to the specific assembly program.
An installation of this type for the manual assembly of a printed circuit board which is also a briefly designated practice as a manual assembly station is known, for example, from a firm publication "IDAS 402", 9/83 of G. E. Schlup & Co., P. 0. B. 26 CH-2543 Lengnau. In the case of this known manual assembly station, the printed circuit boards, which are to have components assembled thereon are positioned in a holding device which is arranged in a surface of a work table which is positioned at an angle in the fashion of a desk. In addition, on the work table, there are two tower-shaped magazines with compartments arranged in sector formation in several planes to receive the various components required for assembly operations that are to be made. Each of these tower-shaped magazines is capable of being rotated on its axis and also being moved along its axis to present the particular compartment desired at a given position. A display device serves the purpose of optical identification of the respective insertion positions of the particular component on a printed circuit board positioned in the holding device or means so that the optical display or identification, respectively, is projected directly into the bores of the printed circuit board. On a separate stand adjacent the work table, an arithmetic or computer with the display screen and a program keyboard is arranged.
If the printed circuit boards, which are combined into a lot, are to be equipped, first a quantity tailored to the lot size of the components required for the assembly is prepared for the assembling and sorted into the individual compartments of the two magazines. Subsequently, via a program keyboard, an equipping or assembly program associated with the particular circuit board is input into the arithmetic unit or means so that the display screen renders possible a continuous control of the input data. The data input in this fashion defines the light points of the respective assembly positions of each component and the sequence of the presentation or positioning of compartments of the two magazines corresponds to the assembly operation sequence. In the case of the following assembly, the arithmetic unit then controls the display device and the magazines in such a fashion that the respective assembly positions are identified on the printed circuit boards and the desired compartments of the magazines are positioned to provide the corresponding component.
The known manual assembly station is, in particular, suited for the assembly of a plurality of similar components on a similar printed circuit board which are to be combined into one lot. In the case of a lot change, a conversion of the manual equipping station with a sorting of the now-required and correspondingly prepared components into the two magazines and with the input of a new assembly program into an arithmetic unit is necessary.